29 August 2013

In the recent days I was busy with designing the new mesh mittens for Mistress Emma's (yes, we switched once again!) store Sunshine Technology. They will replace the current prim ones - and I'm very proud on how they came out.
Its always harder to create curved shapes in contrast to straight lines and square edges. So I am happy they look nicely organic and convincing.

A first fitting test on the beta grid.

The shots show them untextured, just tinted. The finished version will of course have all the texture and colour options and the RLV-functionality of their predecessors, if not more :-)

Its really nice to see how an idea originally just meant for our private plays (especially with me in the sub-role) turned into a quite popular product! The release date of the new version should be very soon!

16 August 2013

I like wandering through the Fallout-inspired Wastelands lots (note to myself: make a photo series about them!). Even though I'm not really participating in the RP there, its just a pure joy to discover all the funny weirdness people put together there. As anarchic it looks, as friendly it is and I hope the Wastelanders will enjoy this little gadget I made in dedication of the genre of post-apocalyptic RP ;-)

The Wastelands Gramophone!

Apart from its unique run-down look with custom-made textures it offers the same features as its shiny steampunky relatives with radio-tuner, access levels and animations.

A good friend once compared me with an assembly line. Well I wouldn't got that far, but I'm surely prolific - here is something new again ;-)

I know this will disappoint you, but the last line is not negotiable :p

This cute little thing is actually a sideproject while working on a bigger version. Its nevertheless a fun idea to decorate your home with it - no matter if its sitting on a shelf or flying slow circles above your head ;-)

15 August 2013

During the process of defining the appearance of the Gramophone I found that quite a few variants besides the standard Brass-version look actually too good to hide them in my inventory. Here is the current selection - oh and there may be some more planned :-)

13 August 2013

It took me a while from realizing that meshes are the future in SL (which isn't really hard) to actually getting started with making them. Well making meshes is - compared to building in SL - utterly complex and demands a completely new kind of building (not speaking of making UV maps and baking textures on them), but the benefits are almost unlimited freedom in creating and manipulating shapes - something I could only dream of in SL ;-)

My first Mesh!

So instead of using tools to convert SL-prims and make them to meshes I took the high (and pretty tough) road of learning Blender.

After watching about 30 tutorials and more or less successful attempts to get used with the controls and the idea behind its UI (which did quite confuse me at first - again, SL is much simplier there), I felt ready to start a serious project.

There were of course some obstacles. And some "walls" I ran against, until I got used to its vices (and there are many), strenghts and limitations. But the result looks quite satisfying. Its been a steep learning curve but I can definitely say: its worth it :-)

The Gramophone shown as wireframe. Looks pretty cool, huh? ;-)

Additional to its great looks the Gramophone has a menu-operated radio script, animated handle and turntable and several access levels (group, owner public) - and weighs only 2 prims :-)

The plan for the next weeks and months is to piece by piece remaking my current products in blender and throwing some new products out too. I - for example - haven't made a zeppelin yet...

The Steampunk Mesh Gramophone is available on the Marketplace and inworld - stay tuned! More coming soon! :-)